WEST AUSTRALIAN REDMAN-CARR WINS O'NEILL SUNSET CHALLENGE

Kauai's Rochelle Ballard Runner-up & Alana Blanchard Nose Guard Rookie

Sunset Beach, HAWAII - (Wednesday, November 30, 2005) - West Australian Melanie Redman-Carr, 30, capitalized on home-grown big-wave knowledge to win her first professional surfing competition at Sunset Beach today, in the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing women's Sunset Challenge. Second place in the four-woman final went to Rochelle Ballard, 30, (Kauai), third was 15-year-old Kauai teenager Alana Blanchard, and fourth was Claire Bevilacqua, 22, (West Australia).

Contested in waves of 6- to 8-feet, Redman-Carr posted one of the highest heat scores of the day - 15.33 points over her top two rides, in the final. Her best ride, a 9.33, was her reward for a three second tube ride - the only successful tube ride of the final. Born and raised on the powerful surf of West Australia's famous big-wave surfing venue Margaret River, Redman-Carr was comfortable at Sunset today, despite having only surfed here once in the past few years, as there hasn't been an event here for the women since 1997. Melanie won ,500 for today's victory, and takes the lead on the Vans Triple Crown of Series ratings for women, the winner of which will take the ,000 bonus purse at the conclusion of the Series.

"I'm really happy to win out here at Sunset, because whenever the waves are big, those are the results everyone talks about," said Redman-Carr, who has been coming to Hawaii for the past 10 years. "

On her top-scoring tube-ride: "It's nice to get in, but it's even nicer to come out. Those kind of waves were hard to find.

"Today was pretty tame for Sunset. It's similar to West Oz, there are waves like this there - where you get that lost-in-space feeling and you're all alone out in a huge lineup. But all the girls were charging today - even the young ones. I think it's necessary to have an event like this for women's surfing."

Tube-riding was the difference between winning and losing today, but more importantly, successful tube-riding. While it takes enormous courage to tackle the tubes of Sunset, there is no reward unless the surfer successfully exits from the barrel. Kauai's Rochelle Ballard - a seasoned Sunset Beach surfer, charged head-first into the 30-minute final, hunting down the kind of tube-rides she has become famous for. But both her first and second attempts on the first two waves to be ridden in the final each cost her dearly, breaking two consecutive surfboards and losing valuable time in the lineup. Receiving scores of 3.83 and 4.5 consecutively for those rides - a total of 8.33 points, Ballard, 34, earned enough for second place and the runner-up purse of ,250.

"It's a bummer - those were good boards," said Ballard. "But when it comes to a final, you've got to go for it. Unfortunately, I just didn't get the waves that allowed the scores I needed. That first barrel was such a good one, but I got kind of caught up in the white-water ball and I couldn't get back down. I should have had another meatball last night - it's hard when you're small! (Ballard was the smallest woman in the final at just 5'0".)

"But I was thrilled to just be out there, to be honest. I've been out of the water for about two-and-a-half months (with an ankle injury), so I was thrilled to be making heats."

Blanchard, and a new-comer to the North Shore's winter surf events, won over a host of new fans with her gutsy performance today. Not only did she win ,000, she was also awarded the Nose Guard Vans Triple Crown Rookie Award, for being the best newcomer to the Series this year. Blanchard scored 8.03 points in the final for rides of 4.93 and 3.10. Earlier in the day she accounted for the loss of reigning world champion Sofia Mulanovich (Peru), in the quarter finals.

Fourth-placed Bevilacqua, 0, was the highest heat scorer earlier in the day, posting 18.16 in the semi-finals, where she placed first ahead of Redman-Carr, Megan Abubo (Hawaii), and current world number one Chelsea Georgeson (Australia). The top two in each heat today advanced. Unfortunately the most she could muster up in the final were rides of 3.07 and 1.53 for a total of 4.6 points. In the semi's Claire, like Redman-Carr in the final, was awarded 9.33 points for an excellent tube ride.

The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing women's standings after two events are as follows: 1. Melanie Redman-Carr; 2. Chelsea Georgeson; 3. Claire Bevilacqua; 4. Megan Abubo (Hawaii); and 5. Rochelle Ballard. The third and final event of the women's Triple Crown will take place at Honolua Bay, Maui, December 8-20. The Triple Crown bonus ,000 purse will be awarded upon completion of that event.

One day of competition remains for the men's O'Neill World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach. Today's swell is forecast to drop into tomorrow, with a new swell expected on Friday, which would see the event come to a close.

For live coverage and a complete list of results: www.triplecrownofsurfing.com
For up-to-the-minute surf forecasting: www.surfline.com .
Surfline is the official surf forecaster for the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.

The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing is made possible through the support of Op, Roxy, O'Neill, Rip Curl, Billabong, Surfing, Oahu's Turtle Bay Beach Resort, Hawaiian Airlines, G-Shock, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Fox Sports Net and Road Runner High Speed Online.